What Kind of Fool
by Fueled By Dr. Pepper
Summary: Sebastian seeks out Dave to set things right. SPOILERS FOR ON MY WAY - Mentions of events from that episode. 1156 words.  Includes an OC Also, I didn't notice until it was finished but it seemed very pre-Sebofsky.


Sebastian Smythe was doing this.

He was going to do this.

He was . . . chickening out.

On paper, it seemed easy. Go to Dave Karofsky's house, apologize, and bonus points for starting a tentative bond. He owed it to him – gay man to gay man.

But damn it all if he wasn't flip-flopping as he dug a trench from all his pacing on Dave's porch.

This was it. He was doing it. He rang the doorbell and turned his back as if he was nonchalant about this whole experience. He did still have an image to preserve after all. The door opened and he began commenting.

"Nice little place you're got here, Davey. No trouble finding it – after playing phone tag with almost every member of New Directions just to get the address."

He turned to face the door. A teenage girl only slightly younger than him was standing in the doorway, bemused expression on her face.

"Dave's not here, man."

Sebastian rolled his eyes, "Typical. That small Barbara-wannabe – "

"I'm just kidding," she interjected, "I've just always wanted to do that."

Sebastian stood silent in his confusion.

"'Dave's not here.' Cheech and Chong . . . whatever, he's inside."

She ushered him in and he followed her to a back bedroom.

"Dave, you got a visitor."

She stood at the door while Sebastian walked in. It was pretty on par with the rest of the house – cozy without being claustrophobic. A deep forest green covered the walls that weren't wallpapered with band posters. Clothes and books rounded the edges of the room's corners. Finally looking to Dave, he was glad to see him looking the same, save for a little more stubble.

"Dude, you gotta stop fucking with the order of my room."

"What order? It's a pig sty, Liz."

Sebastian stopped in his tracks two steps away from where Dave was sitting on the bed, rummaging through a pile of random art supplies.

"Wait, this is your room?"

The girl at the door nodded, "I was gracious enough to give him my room when he moved in and he rewards me by moving my shit around."

Dave threw an empty tube of paint at her, "Organizing your hive so neither of us gets lost in it is my way of saying thank you, ass."

She shrugged with an unaffected expression that cemented her disapproval of the clean up. Sebastian shook off the urge to laugh.

"Anyways, what're you doing here?"

He was searching for a response that didn't seem as pathetic as his original plan was beginning to look.

"Wait – do you even know him? Because if this is one of those douches who want to encourage you to 'try, try again' I will get the meat cleaver out."

Sebastian instinctively held his arms out to deflect a blow.

"No, I'm a friend – well, not a friend. I am douche actually but not because I want David dead."

"You really aren't making a case here," Dave chuckled, "he's not from East McKinley, Liz."

The girl nodded but made a gesture of popping her knuckles. Sebastian turned back on her to fully face Dave.

"I'm here to say sorry. What I said to you was just unacceptable."

Dave tapped a paintbrush in his hand.

"This is nice of you but it's not necessary – it was a lot more than you telling me I should stay in the closet that got to me."

Sebastian nodded, "I just really want you to know I didn't mean it. I am genuinely sorry for the way I treated you."

"And I forgive you."

On such a winning streak, Sebastian went for the gold.

"Maybe we could even start over. Be the kind of friends all those stereotypical sitcoms say we are."

Dave started tossing the more obvious trash in the can at his feet.

"That sounds great but I could use some time to think. Get my head in the right place first."

Sebastian let the words come tumbling out before he could use the metal filter he had been working on, "I'm not trying to hit on you before you're ready or anything, I really just wanna be more of a buddy than a competitor."

Liz chimed in from the doorway, "Aw, really? You two would be cute as fuck together."

Flustered, Dave tried waving her away, "Liz, could you leave?"

"Is this because of that adorable, tall kid with the cool clothes that checks in by text message every five minutes?"

"Please, Liz."

She relented, turning on her heel.

"If you need me, call me."

Out of sight, she continued from the hall, "No matter where you are, no matter how far."

"Lizzie!"

She ducked back in to close the door behind her.

Sebastian sat on the foot of the bed, "She's kinda weird."

Dave rolled his eyes and nodded.

"A good weird."

Dave let out a small laugh and nodded in agreement again.

There was a small silence as they both sorted through the mess between them.

"So, you moved?"

Dave arranged a pile of scrap paper sketches he had been gathering, "Yeah. My dad got wind of my mom's plan to try conversion therapy on me. He thought it'd be best if we left that environment. We're temporarily bunking down here until things get sorted and we get a new place."

Sebastian thought of the scenery change that occurred once he came out. A huge new house with his room and his parents' room on opposite sides like the poles of a magnet. Might as well have been oceans apart.

"That sucks."

Dave shrugged, "His sister – my aunt Tracy – she's cool. And Liz is a good influence to have around right now."

Sebastian smiled at Dave, "I'm glad things are getting better."

"They're starting to, for sure."

Sebastian reached for the next group of papers closest to him. Flipping one over, he was met with a two dimensional version of the boy sitting next to him. It was slightly different – the shading made Dave's face seem gaunt and he was lying on a bed. It was preliminary sketch of the machine next to the bed that tipped off that this was made around the time Dave was in the hospital.

After a shallow, shaky breath, Sebastian remarked, "She's got talent."

Dave glanced over and took them from Sebastian.

"They came to visit the last day once Dad let them know we weren't going home. That's when they offered for us to come here."

Sebastian covered his mouth with his hand to try and keep his emotions in check.

Dave flipped over another paper, revealing a portrait of a squirrel eating bits from an apple core.

"I'm really happy I'm here."

Sebastian looked at Dave. The peaceful expression on his face, the sure grip on the paper in his hand. He had not seen anyone with such liveliness in a while.

"So am I."


End file.
